The present invention relates to means for connecting a pipe to a tubular body. Such connection means are intended, for example, for use in pressurized fluid circuits to interconnect two circuit elements, such as pipes, the tubular body possibly being a coupling between two pipes or an endpiece for coupling a pipe to a functional member to which it is secured.
Known devices for coupling together two pipes comprise a union made up of a tubular body having two ends each serving to receive a respective one of the pipe ends that is to be inserted into the union. The coupling device also comprises two sleeves screwed onto respective ends of the tubular body so that each deforms a respective claw washer between an internal shoulder of the sleeve and the end of the tubular body, each claw washer being deformed between a rest state in which it is conical and has an inside diameter greater than the outside diameter of its pipe, and a deformed state in which it is flattened and has an inside diameter smaller than the outside diameter of its pipe so as to bite into the outer surface thereof. The pipes are generally axially positioned in the tubular body by means of annular shoulders formed in the tubular body so as to constitute abutments against further penetration of the pipes into the union. When two pipes of a circuit are connected to each other or to other elements of the circuit by such coupling devices, removal of one of the pipes, e.g. for replacement purposes, makes it necessary, once the sleeves have been withdrawn, to be able to move the two coupling devices apart in order to extract the ends of the pipes from the tubular bodies of said devices. Such disassembly is difficult to perform in a circuit that is relatively complex and in which certain elements can also be fixed to supports.
The invention proposes connection means of a novel type providing a simple alternative to existing means and making it possible, when installed in a circuit, to disengage laterally from an element connected to the circuit.
To this end, the invention provides connection means for connecting a pipe to a tubular body having an end arranged to receive one end of the pipe, the connection means comprising a sleeve subdivided into first and second portions in axial succession provided with means for connecting said portions in leakproof and releasable manner respectively to the end of the tubular body and to the pipe, and a removable abutment ring provided with means for locking it axially on the pipe and set back from the end thereof to constitute an abutment shoulder when the pipe is engaged in the tubular body, and an axial abutment shoulder between the second portion of the sleeve and the pipe.
By means of this disposition of a removable abutment ring, pipes or members in a pressurized fluid circuit can be dismantled more easily. It suffices to disconnect one or both of the sleeves of the corresponding tubular bodies to uncover the abutment rings and thus to gain access thereto in order to release them from the pipes on which they are installed. There is then no longer any obstacle to relative sliding between the components of the connection, thus providing greater freedom to move these components relative to one another in order to engage them and to disengage them.
In a particular embodiment, the abutment ring is radially expansible and has a protecting inside surface from which there extends at least one stud for locking it axially on the pipe, the stud being designed to be received in a housing formed in corresponding manner in the wall of the pipe. The abutment ring is easily locked on the tube and is also easily released therefrom.
Preferably, the abutment ring comprises two half-rings united by an elastic band received in a peripheral groove in the half-rings. As a result, the two half-rings can be moved apart from each other in resilient manner, thereby enabling the abutment ring to be put into place on the pipe and enabling the abutment ring to be moved, thereby disengaging the stud from the housing.